I started by giving my students (student support, 7&8th graders) the prompt "Is it Matter?" from "Uncovering Student Ideas" volume 1, pg 79.
They happily attended to the prompt...for about 2 seconds, and then all hands went up int the air asking me,"What IS matter?" I explained that I really just wanted them to use their knowledge and check off what they belived matter was. I also made it 100% clear that this was not graded, not a test and they didn't even have to put a name on the paper. This put them at ease and they went to work.
Their idea of matter is very interesting and to put their overall responses in a nutshell; "It is matter if it matters and is important".
We are busy studying matter (about 2 weeks into it) and I think their perception of matter has changed quite a bit. It will be very interesting to administer the post test to see just how much.
They happily attended to the prompt...for about 2 seconds, and then all hands went up int the air asking me,"What IS matter?" I explained that I really just wanted them to use their knowledge and check off what they belived matter was. I also made it 100% clear that this was not graded, not a test and they didn't even have to put a name on the paper. This put them at ease and they went to work.
Their idea of matter is very interesting and to put their overall responses in a nutshell; "It is matter if it matters and is important".
We are busy studying matter (about 2 weeks into it) and I think their perception of matter has changed quite a bit. It will be very interesting to administer the post test to see just how much.